US 89 going north from Browning to St Mary's Glacier NP

I know all to well about 89-89A in Northern AZ and just inside UTAH. It is an older road that winds thru all of the high country places with many loop backs... Did well with our Jeeps back then haha...

Roy Ken

I was there this summer. I would recommend going into the park from the west entrance. Lots more around the area.
If you halve to go to St Mary's I would look at 464 but it is a lot further. Never try to tow on HWY 49. After driving it in my CR-V I wouldn't drive it again. 89 starts out not to bad but the last 10+ miles you can see the back of your rig on some curves. I stayed at Glacier Meadow RV Park 15735 US-2, Essex, MT 59916, glaciermeadowrvpark.com, (406) 226-4479, while we explored the east side of the park and at Glacier Peaks Mini Storage (yes it realey is a rv park)
3185 MT-40, Columbia Falls, MT 59912, glacierpeaksrvpark.com, (406) 892-2133,
while we spent a week on the west side.
Bill

When we went to St Mary coming from West Glacier we made a mistake and took HWY 49 about a mile up the road was a sign giving the length restriction and we over but there was no place to turn around. We made it but I am sure glad we were not even a foot longer. Leaving St. Mary we were told not to take 89 but take 464 and it was a good road.

US89 is an older road that crosses the foothills of the Rockies. I drove it at the end of the day in a car and felt it was tiring (though pretty). 464 stays further out on the plains and is straighter. North of St Marys 89 is relatively straight.

I haven't driven 49, but from detailed views on Google Maps it looks like it climbs up over a mountain ridge. So it should be scenic in a car, but may be scary in an RV with poor power to weight ratio.

I do not have any recent first hand knowledge regarding these roads. Several years ago, I did drive MT 49 from East Glacier north to Kiowa. That sounds like the road you're describing. I think I read some posts this summer about the poor condition of US 89 and some folks preferred to drive north out of Browning on MT 464 to Starr School Rd, then west to US 89. As I remember, they felt this was a better road. However, I do not have any personal knowledge about it.

If you are in Browning and want to go to St Mary the only other way is around 2 sides of a roughly equilateral triangle. Twice as far in other words. We were down that Rd but it was a couple of years ago and I didn't notice anything terrible about it. Maybe you expect a lot more from remote country highways than I do.

Make the "X" bold and in red!

Went that route last July with our 36-foot 5th wheel. Never again!

It was a winding, narrow, shoulder-less road which had some potholed stretches.

It was a very slow drive, getting up to 35 only occasionally.